Carcass is recognized as pioneers in the grindcore genre. Their early work was also associated with tags like "splatter death metal" and "hardgore," owing to their macabre lyrics and gruesome album covers. Moreover, their 1993 album Heartwork contributed to their status as pioneers of melodic death metal.
The band frequently explores animal rights issues in their lyrics, and some members follow vegetarian or vegan lifestyles.
Studio albums
Reek of Putrefaction (1988)
Symphonies of Sickness (1989)
Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)
Heartwork (1993)
Swansong (1996)
Surgical Steel (2013)
Torn Arteries (2021)
The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills
Carcass Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Towering fuming smokestacks loomed
Aloft the emancipated industrial
mercantile maroon
Your heirs will be deprived this fate
A penitentiary as consumer villeins
Never to enter through
Six, zero, two, six
Nine, six, one
Torn apart in the soul destroying...
Six, zero, two, six
Nine, six, one
The granulating dark satanic mills...
Subsisting shackled drudgers & drones
Disassembly line of skin & bone
Collieries not beaches
lie beneath the paving stones
When chattel black turned to white
Rigid binding chains were hidden from sight
The unborn will quench
the thirstful smouldering kiln's fires
Six, zero, two, six
Nine, six, one
Torn apart in the soul destroying...
Six, zero, two, six
Nine, six, one
Sweat & no redemption in the dark satanic mills
An existence, subservient, binded you'll see
"A working class hero is something to be"
An existence, subservient, blinded you'll seed
A working class hero is something to bleed
The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills by Carcass is a song that addresses the harsh realities of the industrial revolution and how it impacted the working class. The lyrics of the song portray the bleak and oppressive conditions that characterized the mills and factories where workers toiled day and night, to the detriment of their health and well-being.
The first line, "From the weeping womb to the tomb," reveals the unfortunate fate of those born into the working class. The smokestacks alluded to serve as a metaphor for the towering and fuming mills that loomed over the workers. The lyrics also describe the emancipated industrial and mercantile maroon, highlighting the fact that those who benefited the most from the industrial revolution were not the ones who worked in the factories but the wealthy industrialists who exploited them.
The song reflects on the inherent cruelty of a capitalist system that commoditized human life, thereby turning workers into consumer villeins. The "grim rusting factory gates" symbolize the oppressive nature of the system that enslaves the working class. The recurring chorus, "Six, zero, two, six, nine, six, one," highlights the endless cycle of misery and despair that characterized life in the mills.
Line by Line Meaning
From the weeping womb to the tomb
From birth to death
Towering fuming smokestacks loomed
Large industrial smokestacks emitting harmful fumes
Aloft the emancipated industrial mercantile maroon
The industrial revolution brought progress but also exploitation
Your heirs will be deprived this fate
Future generations will not have to suffer from the same conditions
A penitentiary as consumer villeins
People are trapped in a cycle of consumerism and debt
Never to enter through the grim rusting factory gates
No one wants to work in these terrible conditions
Six, zero, two, six
Numbers that serve as a countdown
Nine, six, one
The end of the countdown
Torn apart in the soul destroying...
The harsh reality of working in the factories destroys one's soul
The granulating dark satanic mills...
The factories are like hellish beasts consuming and grinding up human beings
Subsisting shackled drudgers & drones
Workers are trapped and treated like slaves
Disassembly line of skin & bone
Workers are stripped down to their most basic components
Collieries not beaches lie beneath the paving stones
The ground is not made of sand and sun, but of coal mines and industry
When chattel black turned to white
When slavery was abolished, exploitation of the working class began
Rigid binding chains were hidden from sight
Workers are still being treated like slaves, but it's harder to see
The unborn will quench the thirstful smouldering kiln's fires
Future generations will have to bear the burden of the environmental destruction caused by the factories
Sweat & no redemption in the dark satanic mills
Workers toil and suffer without hope of improvement or escape
An existence, subservient, binded you'll see
Workers are trapped in a life of servitude
"A working class hero is something to be"
Workers should be valued and respected
An existence, subservient, blinded you'll seed
Children of workers are indoctrinated into a life of servitude
A working-class hero is something to bleed
Workers must fight and suffer to improve their conditions
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DANIEL WILDING, JEFF WALKER, WILLIAM GEOFFREY STEER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ryan Ohlson
This song is so good. Good balance of old school thrashing and killer harmonized riffs, and Walker still reigns as one of the greatest, most vicious and savage sounding vocalists in extreme music. Dude sounds like a rabid wolf ready to tear you limb from limb.
Swordy
perfect.
Bathorynukka
Bill Steer, guitar god and still criminally underrated. Influenced so many, just like Carcass.
Kampf Kustomer
Almost bizarre to think of him in Napalm Death now
Philo Beddoe
Bill is one of my favorite guitarists in any genre. What ever he's doing, I'm buying.
sapper07
Is it just me or does it seem like youtube comments sound ai generated
Bathorynukka
@sapper07 it’s you
Ryan Reese
I'm really struggling to recall another instance where a band has reunited after such a lengthy hiatus with such amazing results. It sounds so fresh, and yet true to how Carcass has always sounded. I love that sort of consistency in a band.
Yami Bakura
at the gates with their 2014 album :D
Ryan Reese
+Alexander Barraza good one